A wire harness (aka cable harness) is typically a collection of cables and/or wires which transmit informational signals (“signals”) or operating currents (“power”) from one point to another. These wires and/or cables are often bound together to form a harness using, for example, clamps, cable ties, cable lacing, sleeves, electrical tape, conduit, a weave of extruded string, or a combination thereof.
Wire harnesses are used in nearly every vehicle (e.g., automobiles, motorcycles, trains, ships, boats, spacecraft, and aircraft) and provide several advantages over loose wires and cables. For example, vehicles typically contain many masses of wires which may stretch over several miles if fully extended. Binding the wires and cables into harnesses better secures them against the adverse effects of vibrations, abrasions, and moisture. By constricting the wires into a non-flexing or semi-flexing bundle, usage of space is also increased, and the risk of a short circuit is greatly decreased. Similarly, installation time is decreased since an installer must install only a single harness (as opposed to multiple loose wires). In certain situations, the wires may be further bound into a flame-retardant sleeve that lowers the risk of electrical fires.
Although traditionally bound wire harnesses are highly advantageous over loose wires, there are still a few drawbacks. For example, in aviation, weight is a crucial factor and, as new military and civilian aircraft systems are developed, wire harnesses account for increasingly larger mass fractions of the aircraft's total weight. Similarly, for new military and civilian aircraft platforms, there is a continuous drive to simultaneously improve performance while reducing costs. Another drawback of traditionally bound wire harnesses is the clutter and space inevitably occupied by the wire bundles.
Furthermore, current aircraft development emphasizes electrical systems that enhance the overall performance of the platform. This includes state of the art systems such as fly by wire, electro-hydraulic actuators, distributed sensor systems and high power payloads. With the increased demand on electrical components have come increasingly complex installations and maintenance. Current efforts to reduce the weight and complexity of these systems center on moving from cables to high-speed serial architectures, switching from hydraulic to electrical systems, and distributed architectures. Not surprisingly, these efforts require an increased emphasis on harness materials and design while significantly reducing harness mass fraction, a task that cannot be accomplished with traditional wire harnesses.
Thus, what is needed is an economical, lightweight wire harness capable of being embedded within or integrated with the structure and/or body panel of a vehicle. Such a wire harness can be accomplished using CNT and/or CNF material. For example, one or more carbon conductors may be sandwiched between two insulating layers of material such that the conductor is electrically isolated and structural loads can be passed through the conductor sandwich assembly (CSA). The CSA may be incorporated either into or onto a composite structure without detrimental effect to the electrical and structural properties of the incorporated system.